Albus Potter and the Golden Tomb
by MrJordanTomlin
Summary: A new adventure is about to begin, as Albus Potter starts his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and with the guidance of his brother, it's sure to be a blast. Though something is bubbling under the surface. An unseen threat that lurks in the darkness.
1. Chapter One - A New Journey

_**Disclaimer - Harry Potter and all of the character belong to J.K. Rowling.**_

-Chapter One-

 _ **A New Journey**_

Thick, white steam engulfed the large platform as it poured out of a scarlet train that sat, waiting, on the tracks. Families were bustling around and wading their way through the thick mist, to find their friends.

At first glance, this platform would look rather ordinary. People bidding friends and family farewell as they boarded the scarlet train. Parents hugging their children goodbye and telling them to behave. But the closer you look, the more peculiar it started to appear. Owls screeched and flapped their wings against their cages that sat on trolleys full of large trunks, some of these were bearing a rather odd emblem (a shield, divided into four, with a lion, a snake, a badger, and an eagle, one in each corner and in the middle was a large 'H').

One of the most unusual things about this platform, was that it was sporting the number 'nine and three-quarters,' and right below that, was a solid, brick wall, or, was it solid? Every now and then a human would seemingly walk right through it, as if it wasn't there at all.

The people on the platform took no notice of this (though some were looking right at it) and instead, were chatting happily amongst themselves. The excited squeals of young children could faintly be heard of the noise of others, talking on the platform. One voice however, could be heard quite clearly, as it stood out from the rest.

'Thestrals are nothing to worry about,' the voice was calm and reassuring, 'they're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. Anyway, you won't be going up to the school in the carriages, you'll be going in the boats.'

Harry Potter smiled down at his son, as his wife Ginny kissed his son Albus goodbye.

'See you at Christmas.'

'Bye, Al,' said Harry, as his son hugged him. 'Don't forget Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeve's. Don't duel anyone 'til you've learned how. And don't let James wind you up,' Harry looked over at his other son as he said the last part.

'What if I'm in Slytherin?'

The whisper was directed at his father alone, and Harry knew that only the moment of departure could have forced Albus to reveal how great and sincere that fear was.

Harry knelt down so that Albus' face was slightly above his own. Alone of Harry's three children, James, Albus and Lily, Albus had inherited his mother, Lily's bright green eyes.

'Albus Severus,' Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Ginny could hear, who was waving at Rose Weasley, who was already on the train, 'you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was in Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.'

'But _just_ say - '

'- Then Slytherin house will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al, but if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor or Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account.'

'Really?'

'It did for me,' said Harry, thinking back to his first year.

He had never told any of his children that before, and he saw the wonder in Albus' face when he said it. But now the doors were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of the parents were swarming forward for final kisses, hugs and last-minute reminders. Albus jumped into the carriage and Ginny closed the door behind him. Students were hanging from the windows nearest to them and waving to their families. A great number of faces, both from the train and off, seemed to be turned towards Harry.

'Why are they all staring?' Demanded Albus, as he and Rose craned round to look at the other students.

'Don't let it worry you,' Ron Weasley said, appearing at Harry's side, 'it's me. I'm extremely famous.'

Albus, Rose, Hugo and Lily all laughed. The train began to move, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son's thin face, already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling, and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him…

The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.

'He'll be all right,' murmured Ginny, placing a hand on his shoulder.

As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absent-mindedly and touched the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead.

'I know he will.'

The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.

Albus and Rose made their way down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, looking for an empty compartment. Occasionally they were stopped by people, Albus had never seen before.

'You must be Albus, James' brother! Good to meet you!' Said a tall, lanky redhead, after blocking their path down the corridor.

'Albus! Isn't it? You look like very much like your brother, would you care to join us?' A girl with bushy, bushy black hair had almost fallen out of her compartment to greet him, and looked rather offended when he kindly declined her offer.

Soon he and Rose found an empty compartment, right at the end of the train. Stowing away their luggage, Albus sat on the cushioned seat, adjacent to Rose, who turned and looked out the window absent-mindedly. Albus followed her gaze. Flying past their window were the sights of London, but soon, as the train pushed onward and they reached the outskirts of the city, small houses and shrubbery, took the scene.

'I hope I get put in Gryffindor,' Rose said suddenly and she turned to face Albus, who had hoped she wouldn't bring this up. Even after what his father had said, he still had some worries.

'Being in Gryffindor would be nice,' he tried to sound confident, but wasn't sure if he was pulling it off, 'but the other houses are just as good.'

At that moment, James opened the door to the compartment and stepped inside, saving his little brother from the conversation.

'Hey, Al and Rose' he said with a smug look on his face.

'Hey, James,' replied Rose happily, as Albus gave his brother a slight nod.

'I just wanted to make sure you're all settled in,' James was looking at Albus as he spoke, 'and if you are...' He trailed off and waited for his brothers response, and after Albus nodded, he continued, 'I am going to sit with some friends,' James quickly raised his hand to stop Albus' smart comment, 'I hear you've already met some of them,' he said smiling. 'If you need anything, I'm four compartments down, to the left.'

James turned on his heel, and walked out the door, but stopped suddenly and turned around to face his brother once more.

'I almost forgot to ask,' he said, a huge grin forming on his face, 'make sure to tell the Slytherin table, I said hi.'

With that, James dashed out of sight before Albus could react. He sat there with his mouth open, wanting to yell at his brother, but didn't want to draw attention from the other students on the train.

Albus sighed, 'he's such a - '

'Excuse me?' And unfamiliar voice said, cutting Albus off.

Albus and Rose both turned their attention to the doorway, where a skinny, eleven-year-old boy stood. His hair was short and messy, and his hazel eyes were wide and darting between Rose and Albus. His hand was grasping his shirt, that looked a bit big for him, tightly as he took a small step closer.

'I - I got on the train late and the other compartments are full,' the boys eyes were still darting between Rose and Albus, 'may I sit with you?'

Albus politely nodded and gestured the boy to sit down, which he did, on the same seat as Albus, though pushed right up in the corner.

Not wanting to seem rude, the boy turned his body to face the other two students. It seemed as though he wanted to speak, as he kept opening his mouth and then closing it again. Albus noticed this and gave him a friendly, encouraging smile.

'I'm Arthur Reed, by the way,' he finally managed to say, though it was barely a whisper, and he extended his hand towards Rose.

'Rose Weasley,' she murmured shyly, shaking Arthur's hand once, before dropping it.

Arthur then moved his hand towards Albus, who shook it firmly/

'I'm, Albus Potter,' Arthur suddenly let of Albus' hand, leaving Albus holding a limp hand. Arthur stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

'Potter...' He whispered, 'are… You the son of Harry Potter?' Albus nodded, releasing Arthur's hand.

'One of them,' he grinned, but he could feel the tips of his ears turning pink.

'That must be awesome, having the famous, Harry Potter as your dad!' Arthur seemed very excited with this discovery and seemed to forget about being nervous.

'He's a bit of a tool, really,' James Potter had reappeared in the doorway, accompanied by, whom Albus assumed was, a friend. Both of them stood, grinning into the compartment.

Rose, Arthur and Albus, couldn't contain their laughter.

'That would be the other son of Harry Potter,' Albus stated, turning back to Arthur, 'his name is James, and he's the one who's a tool,' he laughed.

James shot Albus a look, which Albus read as 'I'm going to get you back' and fell silent. James slowly took a step into the compartment and held out his hand to Arthur.

'Yes, I am, James Potter,' he said, with a manner of great importance, 'and you are?'

Arthur slowly took James' hand, 'I'm - I'm, Arthur Reed,' it looked as though he tried to give a smile, but his nerves must of come back again and got the better of him.

'Good to meet you, Arthur!' James beamed down, before turning to Albus, 'now you be nice to him, Al, I don't want to have to pull you in line,' he winked before turning on his heel, and walking back out the door.

Albus saw the boy James was with, give a slight nod towards the compartment, before James swung back around.

'Oh, and by the way, this is Mark Fuller, a third-year.'

'I'm glad you finally made a friend, James!' Albus said, getting up and quickly giving his brother a pat on the back, 'congratulation!' A large grin spread across his face.

'Oh, buzz off!' James pushed Albus off of him, as the others laughed, he then turned to Mark, 'if you are still seeker for Hufflepuff next year, I give you permission to knock my brother off his broom, _if_ he makes the team,' James turned and winked at Albus, before him and Mark disappeared down the corridor.

'Don't you worry, James!' Albus called after him, 'I _will_ make the team!' Albus sat back in his chair, and embarrassment welled up inside him, and hoped the whole train hadn't heard him.

As the train pushed on, closer to Hogwarts, the three of them decided, it would be best to talk about something other than the school for a bit and try and take their minds off the upcoming sorting ceremony.

Out of the train's window, the scenery had taken on a change. The buildings and outskirts of London had been replaced with lush green fields, which held animals that stood, grazing on the grass.

'So, you like Quidditch?' Arthur asked, turning to Albus.

'Yeah, but I haven't been to see any games yet.'

Albus turned and looked out the window, and started watching the passing, green fields, fighting hard not to think about the four houses of Hogwarts.

'What Quidditch team do you go for?' Rose asked, eager to keep the conversation going.

'Well, my family all goes for England, but I prefer Australia,'

Arthur blushed slightly, 'even though they haven't been going the best lately...' he trailed off.

'Well, while "Mr Equal" over here, doesn't have a team,' she glanced at Albus, 'I go for Bulgaria.'

'I just can't decide who I like more!' Albus piped up, turning to Rose 'I just don't want to have to change teams, after I had already picked one,' he looked back out the window for a second, before turning his attention to Arthur.

'Have you learnt any spells?' He asked, changing the subject and making Arthurs ears turn pink.

'I've learnt what I could from the school books we had to get and also some that I got for background reading,' Arthur answered in a whisper, looking at the ground, 'but I haven't performed any, because of the underage law -'

'Have you read all the books?' Albus questioned before he could stop himself, 'already?'

'Yes,' he said quietly, his face now turning red.

Albus opened his mouth to say that he had too, but was cut off by a loud clattering that was coming from the corridor. Albus looked at the door to see, a small, plump women, with a warming smile, slide it open.

'Anything of the trolley, my dears?' She asked cheerily.

Arthur shook his head and Albus heard him murmur, 'I don't have any money,' while her and Rose jumped to their feet and went to the cart. Albus scanned the sweets, and decided that he would get a few things, such as; Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes and a few other strange things, while Rose opted for a few Chocolate Frogs.

After taking his arm full of sweets back to his seat, Albus dumped it all beside him and hearing what Arthur had said before, offered him some.

'I - I couldn't,' he stammered.

'No, please,' Albus retorted, ' it'll be my pleasure,' he smiled and passed Arthur a chocolate frog, who turned red with embarrassment and whispered 'thank you.'

As darkness started to descend, the scenery outside the train changed, yet again. Now, instead of lush, green fields, dense trees were bunched together. Their trunks and branches twisted at odd angles, while long, dead blades of grass wound their way up them.

The trio changed into their Hogwarts robes, as James had come and told them that they should be arriving soon. As the train got closer and closer to the wizarding school, the excitement and nerves, grew high in the compartment. Albus and Arthur sat quietly, finishing off the sweets Albus had bought, while Rose looked out the window, into the oncoming darkness, jigging her legs.

A voice then sounded through the train; 'we will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, as it will be taken up to the school separately.'

At this, Albus, Rose and Arthur heard movement in the corridor. The three of them stood up in silence and joined the bustling crowd of students.

Soon, the train started to slow down, until it finally came to a stop. Albus made his way to one of the doors, along with all the other Hogwarts students; Rose and Arthur followed him from behind.

Finally, they managed to get to the door, and they stepped out onto the small, dark platform. The cold, night air whipped their faces and Albus looked around him. He could see a lot of the older students walking away from the platform and disappearing into the darkness, while all of the new students stood around, huddle together, looking more nervous than ever.

Albus swung around, when he heard some of the other students gasp, and he saw an enormous silhouette of, what looked to be, a very large man. In his hand, he looked to be holding an extinguished lantern.

'Firs' years!' A booming voice called, 'firs' years, follow me!' At that moment, a bright, orange flame sparked in the lantern and it illuminated all around it, and the giant of a man became visible. His beaming face was hardly visible through his thick, tangled, bushy hair, and his hands, that were the size of dust-bin lids, could barely hold the lantern properly.

'Hi, Hagrid!' Albus called when Hagrid caught his eye and Hagrid waved his spare hand in response.

'C'mon now, follow me, mind yer step! All firs' years, follow me!' With one last wave of his massive hand, Hagrid turned on his heel and started to walk down a steep narrow path, all of the first years began to follow, tripping, slipping and stumbling in the dark.

'You know him?' Arthur asked, grabbing onto Albus' robes as he slipped on a rock.

'Yeah,' Albus said, taking on notice, 'he's a good friend of my dads. He's like family,' Albus beamed as he looked at the half-giant, leading the students, 'that reminds me. We're having tea with him on Friday,' he gestured at Rose and himself, 'if you would like to join us, I'm sure that would be ok.'

A look of happiness and shock crept onto Arthurs face, it was as if no one had invited him anywhere before and he slowly nodded.

'Sounds great!'

The students continued to follow Hagrid, down the pathway. It was very dark, trees stood on either side and even when Albus strained his eyes, he couldn't see through them. The only light was that of the lantern Hagrid was carrying. Soon, the trees started to thin out as the path started to even out and they came closer to a bend in the path.

As they rounded the corner, a synchronized gasp came from all the students.

'There she is,' Hagrid stated, 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!'

It was magnificent.

The large castle stood atop a high mountain, which sat across a great black lack. It had many turrets and towers, with windows plaster all around it, shining bright, making it stand out against that starry night sky.

Hagrid suddenly stopped, causing some of the student to bump into each other, and pointed at a fleet of small, wooden boats, that were bobbing in the water, near the shore.

'Only four to a boat!' He called, 'an' no more, we don' wan' an accident!' Albus clambered into one of the boats, with Rose, Arthur and a boy with blond hair and glasses, whose name was Lucas.

Hagrid looked around at all the boats and made sure that all the students had got in. He then looked back around at the castle and shouted 'FORWARD!'

The boat Albus was in gave a slight lurch before moving forward, gliding silently across the glass lake, as one with the other boats.

Everyone stared in silence, in awe at the towering castle, taking in every detail, as they got closer and closer.

'Watch yer head, now!' Hagrid called, as the first boats approached the rocky cliff; everyone bowed their heads as they were carried through a large opening in the cliffs face. The dark tunnel they had entered seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle. The walls were covered in small torches that illuminated the moss that clung to the rocks and the thin vines that hung low, from the ceiling.

Soon, they reached, what seemed to be an underground harbour, where they slowly and carefully climbed out, onto the rocky platform. Albus watched, as some of the students had to change their footing several times, to avoid slipping and falling into the water.

Hagrid quickly went and checked all of the boats, to make sure everyone had gotten safely to shore, before gesturing the students to follow him, and they did. They followed his lamp up another steep rocky passageway, grasping the walls to help pull themselves up. The passage soon ended, and brought them out to a damp area of grass, which sat in the shadow of the castle, that loomed above them.

Still following the half-giant, they walked up a flight of stone stairs and mustered around a large oak door, standing shoulder-to-shoulder.

Hagrid turned and once again scanned the students to make sure they were all still there, before slamming his fist three times on the castle door.

Immediately, the door swung open, and the warmth of inside the castle, spilled out, onto the students. A small, dwarf of a man, stood cheerily in the entrance, standing on the balls of his feet, to try and see all of the first-years.

'Thank you, Hagrid!' The man said in a squeaky voice.

'No problem, Professor Flitwick, sir.'

"Please, if you would kindly follow me,' he said, looking around Hagrids enormous body.

Professor Flitwick pushed the door wide open, and led the students into the large Entrance Hall, before waving his wand and closing the door behind them. It was huge. Flaming torches lined the walls and lit up the stone room and filled it with warmth. The ceiling was almost to high to distinguish and an elegant, marble staircase, which led to the upper floors, could be seen directly ahead of them.

Albus looked around the magnificent hall, admiring all of it. He could hear the voices of the rest of the school through the large doors to his right. He looked over at Arthur, whom, he could see, was taking in the sight as well.

'Welcome to Hogwarts!' Said the squeaky voice of Professor Flitwick, which pulled Albus' attention away from the Entrance Halls beauty, 'in a moment, you will pass through these doors and enter the Great Hall. There, you will be sorted into your houses. At Hogwarts, there are four houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. While here, your house will be like your family. You will sleep in the same dormitory, have classes with them and spend your free time with them.

'You are also able to earn points for your house, by proving yourself in classes, for your behaviour and for all of your triumphs. Any rule breaking, on the other hand, will lose you points. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the House Cup!' Professor Flitwick beamed at all of the students, before leaning in and saying in a quieter voice, 'personally, I hope Ravenclaw will continue their winning streak, for the third year in a row!' His face swelled with proudness and he pushed his chest out.

'Now, please wait here, until I come back.'

With that, Professor Flitwick disappeared and the conversation about the school houses began. Albus kept quiet, as he was still very nervous about the sorting. He didn't want to be in Slytherin, no matter what his father had said, and he also wanted to be in the same house as Rose and his new friend, Arthur. But what if they were put into Slytherin? What if he got put in a different house altogether? What would he do then? All of these thoughts were whirling around his head. He quickly glanced at Arthur, who was also staying quiet, and Albus gathered he too, was deep in thought.

Soon, Professor Flitwick reappeared, and the conversations died down, almost immediately. Albus, trying to shake his nerves, looked up, along with the rest of the first-years, who seemed to be giving the Professor, their full attention.

'We are ready for you!' He then turned on his heel and marched the students towards the large door. It was time to be sorted.


	2. Chapter Two - The Four Houses

_**Disclaimer - Harry Potter and all of the character belong to J.K. Rowling.**_

-Chapter Two-

 _ **The Four Houses**_

As Professor Flitwick reached the large door, it swung open, without him even touching it. The chatter from the older students suddenly became louder, as there was no door in between them, to dim the sound, but they quickly quietened down to a whisper, as the first-years entered the Great Hall.

It was massive.

The walls were lined with larges torches and suspended fire pits hung from the stone ledges, that protruded from the walls, lighting up the four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. Floating in mid-air above these tables where thousands and thousands of candles, their flames reflected off the glistening, golden plates and goblets that had been laid out on the tables. At the top of the Great Hall stood another long table where all the teachers were sitting, facing all of their pupils. In the middle of the table, sitting in a large, golden chair, was the Headmistress, Professor Delaine.

As Albus shuffled down the center of the hall, with the rest of the first-years, he focused all of his energy on not tripping and falling. He did not fancy making a fool of himself on his first night here, before he was even sorted. He could hear the whispers and giggles of the other students, and out of the corner of his eyes, he could see some of them pointing and craning their neck to get a good look at the new-comers.

In an effort to avert his eyes from from the onlookers, he looked up at the ceiling which you would have never had guessed it was a ceiling. Rather, it looked as though the hall simply opened up to the starry, night sky, but Albus knew that it had just been enchanted to look like the sky outside, he had read it in _Hogwarts, a History_. He turned to tell Arthur this, but found his mouth very dry and as if there was a big lump in his throat.

Professor Flitwick led the students up to the large table at the top of the hall, and they halted in a line, facing the students and the teachers sat behind them. Albus looked around at the hundreds of faces looking up at them. Shadows flicked across some of their faces, as they scanned the line of first-years. Some, however, were not looking at the new students, but more to the side.

Albus followed their gaze and saw that Professor Flitwick had waddled over to collect a stool, and what looked to be a very old hat. Albus watched the Professor wander back over and stopped in front of the first-years, placing the four-legged stool down and perched the old, pointed wizards hat atop it. Albus studied the hat and saw that it was patched and frayed all over and looked as though it had not been cleaned for a very long time.

Albus drew his attention from the hat and once again looked around the hall. This time, no one was looking at the first-years, instead, everyone's gaze was set on the hat. Everyone in the hall was dead quiet, as they waited patiently for something to happen, as though the hat was going to perform a trick of some sort. Albus scanned the hall once more before looking at the hat, along with everyone else, and he too, waited.

Suddenly, the hat quivered, as if it just had a cold chill run up it's spine, before a rip near the brim opened wide, and it began to sing.

 _'A ragged, old hat, I may be,_

 _But do not judge on what you see._

 _As I am smart and wise as well._

 _And I can promise, I do not dwell._

 _So try me on and I will look,_

 _Inside your head, just like a book._

 _I will find out, at your core,_

 _Where you're destined, among the four._

 _You may find yourself in Hufflepuff,_

 _Where those are loyal enough._

 _They'll treat you like your blood line would,_

 _Better, if they could._

 _Maybe you'll be in Gryffindor,_

 _Although, you need a mighty roar._

 _As all of them are brave and fearless,_

 _They leave their enemies in a mess._

 _Or perhaps you'll go to Slytherin,_

 _Who are cunning and try to win._

 _Here, you'll make your real friends,_

 _There'll be no need to make amends._

 _You might belong in Ravenclaw,_

 _Their minds are quick to draw._

 _Full of wits and ready to learn,_

 _These good people hate to adjourn._

 _So, let me slip onto your head,_

 _And I'll stop talking, and sort you instead._

 _I've never been wrong and don't plan to be,_

 _You need a house, and I am the key!'_

The hat became silent and still once more, as the last words that were echoing around the hall were drowned out by the cheers and claps, that had erupted from the students and staff. Albus was amazing, as he clapped along with everyone else, he glanced around at the other first-years and could see that they too, had looks of utter amazement on their faces.

Albus didn't know how long it was until the noise had died down, but he wished it had kept going, because now, it was time to be sorted and his nerves welled back up again and he couldn't take his eyes off of the old hat.

'Now, when I call your name,' Professor Flitwick said, swinging around to face the first-years and pulling out a rolled up scroll, which he waved at them, 'you will step forward and put the hat on your head and sit down to be sorted. Once your house has been called, please proceed to your house table!' Professor Flitwick unravelled the scroll and held it under his nose, 'Alan, Martha!'

A small, plump girl, with bright red hair, walked shakily up to the stool and put the hat on, which was so big, it fell past her eyes, and she sat down. After a short period of time of complete silence, the rip at the brim of the hat opened once more.

'SLYTHERIN!'

The table second from the right clapped and cheered as Martha made her way over to the table, stumbling a bit and receiving pats on the back and what looked to be a warm welcome. When The noise, once again, died down, Professor Flitwick continued.

'Alan, Tony!'

A boy that looked very similar to Martha, walked up to the stool and put the hat on.

'SLYTHERIN!' The hat yelled and gain, and Tony jumped to his feet and wandered over to join, who Albus gathered was, his twin sister.

And the list went on.

'Bree, Lucas!' The boy that sat in the same boat as Albus, staggered up to the hat, and put it on his head.

'RAVENCLAW!' This time, the table second from the left erupted in cheers and welcomed Lucas to his new house as he ran over to join the table.

Albus wished that the sorting would go slower, maybe he wouldn't have to be sorted if it went to slow, but if anything, it started to go faster.

Dallas, Evan was the first Gryffindor and Eve, Sarah was the next to join him.

'Harper, Lucy!'

'HUFFLEPUFF!' The table on the right welcomed their first newcomer, some even stood up to shake her and as she reached the table.

As the sorting went on, Albus got more and more nervous, as they got closer and closer to his name. Jordan, Phillip (Ravenclaw), Lorry, Pike (Ravenclaw), Malfoy, Scorpius (Slytherin).

'Potter, Albus!' Professor Flitwick called.

Albus' heart skipped a beat. This was it. The moment he'd been dreading. The hall was once again quiet as he slowly walked towards the four-legged stool. He picked the hat up and sat on the stool, before placing it on his head. As the hat slipped past his eyes, he caught a glimpse of his brother, James, giving him a thumbs-up, before he was left, staring at the black inside of the sorting hat.

'Well, well, well,' a little voice said in his ear, 'another Potter. Hmm, yes. I remember your father. Quite difficult to place, yes, and your brother. But you...'

At that Albus remembered what his father was saying before he got onto the train.

 _I don't want to be in Slytherin. Please don't put me in Slytherin_ Albus thought to himself.

'Really?' The small voice said suddenly, 'you know, your father said something similar. But enough about him. No, you're not Slytherin, however, I do know where to put you,' the hat then fell silent. Albus didn't know how long he had been sitting there and through the padding of the hat, he could hear whispers and murmurs, then quite suddenly, the hat shouted out loud, so the rest of the hall could hear, 'GRYFFINDOR!'

The table on the far left of the hall erupted in an enormous cheer and happiness and relief, flooded through Albus as he took of the hat and placed it back on the stool, before he walked, with a skip in his step, over to sit next to his brother at the Gryffindor table.

James patted his brother on the back and congratulated him.

'At least pranks will be easier, since we're in the same house,' James grinned, 'of course I won't always be pranking you, _we_ can also prank some people,' James looked over at the Slytherin table before turning back to Albus and winking. Albus couldn't help but to smile.

'Reed, Arthur!' Professor Flitwicks voice caught Albus' attention, and he looked up at his friend, who was walking towards the stool to be sorting. Albus was sitting quite still, as he held his breath and waited. After what seemed like no time at all, the hat yelled 'GRYFFINDOR!' Albus let out a sigh of relief and began to cheer with the rest of the Gryffindor's, as Arthur came and sat down beside him, with a huge grin on his face.

'Thank god,' he whispered to Albus, who smiled and gave him the same pat on the back, James had given him.

The sorting ceremony continued, but Albus was not paying much attention. He was looking the hall, fascinated. Now that he wasn't full of nerves and dread, he could properly take in the beauty of the Great Hall. He could faintly hear the cheers of the students as more people were sorted into their houses.

'Weasley, Rose!' Albus stopped drowning everything out and looked towards the top of the hall, where he saw his friend, whom he had known since birth, picking the hat up to put on her head.

'GRYFFINDOR!' The hat yelled, barely touching her bright red hair. Another round of applause and cheers, from the Gryffindor table, filled the hall, as they accepted, yet another Weasley, into their folds.

After the rest of the first years had placed the hat on their head and were sorted into their houses, Professor Flitwick took the sorting hat and stool away before returning to his seat at the staff table. The Headmistress, Professor Delaine, then stood up and the Great Hall fell silent once more.

'I know, you are all very hungry,' she started, 'so the announcements shall wait. Dig in!' With that, the shining golden plates filled with food; roast beef, roast chicken, sausages, bacon, steaks, lamb chops, pork chops, all manner of potatoes, peas, carrots, gravy and much more.

Albus looked up and down the table, trying to find somewhere to start, before deciding to pile a bit of everything on his plate. While everyone else started to put food on their plate, the hall filled with chatter once more and Albus heard a lot of the newcomers, at the Gryffindor table, introducing themselves to those who would listen.

Albus, on the other hand, didn't really need to introduce himself, as his brother, James, seemed to have already handled that. Though he did have a few questions, which he decided to ask James.

'Who teaches what classes?' He asked as he turned to his brother.

James quickly chewed and swallowed the large mouthful of food he had in his mouth before answering.

'Ok, so, you have Professor Long for Potions, he's also the head of Slytherin house. Professor Flitwick for Charms, he's Ravenclaws head of house. Professor Binns for History of Magic, Professor Valor for Transfiguration, Neville Longbottom of course is our Herbology teacher and head of Hufflepuff. You'll have Astronomy with Professor Sinistra and for Defence Against the Dark Arts, you have, Professor Crane, she has taken over as head of Gryffindor as well."

Albus was reciting what his brother had just told him, trying to remember it all, as if he was going to be tested on it at any moment, and as he looked over at Rose and Arthur, who had been listening, seemed to be doing the same things, while looking up at the staff table.

Suddenly, Albus felt as though his whole body had been plunged into a bucket of ice cold water. He let out a gasp and dropped his food, back onto his plate, and he wasn't the only one. Other students in the hall (mainly first-years), gasped, some even let out a scream, as some, twenty odd, pearly-white, semi-transparent ghosts drifted through the walls, floors and doors of the hall, and one, unfortunately for Albus, drifted straight through him.

'I'm sorry, my boy! I didn't see you there!' Albus turned to look at the ghost who had just passed through him, he was wearing a ruff and tights and had a look of surprise on his face. 'You're Albus Potter! James has told me about you,' he added as after seeing the look of confusion on Albus' face.

Albus looked over at James, whose ears were turning pick and was looking intently at his plate of food.

'I don't mean to be rude,' Albus heard Arthur say, 'but who are you?'

'Ah, yes. Sorry, I forgot about my introduction,' the ghost said hastily, 'I am, Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Porpington, and I am the ghost of Gryffindor!' He looked around the table and beamed at the first-years.

'Gryffindor's ghost?' Sarah Eve asked from down the table, 'do all the houses have ghosts?'

Sir Nicholas turned his head to Sarah, which seemed to wobble a bit, before answering.

'Of course they do!' He said cheerily, then his eyes swept the hall, 'see, over there, at the Slytherin table, that's the Bloody Baron, you may have guessed already, that he is the Slytherin house ghost,' he pointed to a semi-transparent being, which had, what seemed to be, blood stains all over his robes. He was sweeping low over the Slytherin table, waving his pearly-white sword, wildly, in front of him.

'Hello, Bloody Baron!' A Slytherin called, as the Bloody Baron swooped past him.

'Hello!' He called back, brandishing his sword, even more wildly.

'And over there,' Sir Nicholas moved his finger in the direction of the Hufflepuff table, where a rather fat looking ghost sat in between two very unsettle second years, 'that's The Fat Friar, Hufflepuffs ghost,' he finished looking back at the Gryffindor table.

'What about Ravenclaw?' Sarah questioned, looking around at the Ravenclaw table.

'Ah, yes. How could I forget? Helena Ravenclaw is Ravenclaws house ghost, though many people call her "The Grey Lady",' Sir Nicholas looked around the hall, 'however she is not here, right now. She had some business to attend to, as do I. Goodnight fellow Gryffindor's!' With that Sir Nicholas grabbed his left ear and pulled, and as if it were stuck on with a hung, his head swung off his neck, only to be held on by the tiniest bit of skin, before placing it back on his neck. A few people let out a yelp, 'I love doing that,' he chortled as he glided away.

'I know who that is!' Arthur whispered into Albus' ear.

'Of course you do,' Albus said, a grin spreading across his face, 'he just told you.'

'Oh, ha-ha,' Arthur retorted sarcastically, 'I mean, I've read about him. He's Nearly Headless Nick!'

'I can see why,' Albus said, looking down at his plate, which had just held food, but now was sparkling clean again. He looked down at the dishes on the table, just in time to see dessert appear. Blocks of ice cream, pudding, trifles, apple pies, treacle tarts and a number of other delicious looking desserts.

'He was his _forty-five_ times in the neck with a blunt axe!' Arthur continued, helping himself to the sweets that sat in front of him, 'you'd think they would have made an effort to swing one more time, to make it clean.'

'Charming conversation to be having while we're eating,' Rose said, who was sitting across from Albus and did not look up from here plate.

Albus leant closer to Arthur, so James would hear, and made it look like he was getting some food from down the table, 'I read that too. It's a great book,' he then sat up straight and began to eat his dessert.

Soon, everyone in the Great Hall had become quite full and the desserts vanished from the tables, and the plates became sparkling clean once again. Professor Delaine stood up from her chair and looked out at her pupils, and the conversations died down at once.

'So begins, another year at Hogwarts!' She began, with the faintest hint of a smile, 'I would like to welcome those who have been sorted tonight, and welcome back the older students. Now, I have a few, start of term notices, that I need to give you, before you can go to bed.

'As always, the forest, on the edges of the grounds, is forbidden to all students. No magic is to be used in the corridors, and for more things that are banned, please see a full list in Mr Hall, our wonderful caretakers, office.

'Also, Quidditch trials will be held in the coming weeks, if you wish to try out for the team, please see your head of house.

'Now, I think, it's time for bed!' She finished, before sitting back down in her golden chair, and turning to talk to Professor Flitwick.

The great Hall filled with the sound of students getting up from their seats and moving towards the doors, all while talking excitedly.

'First years! First years, follow me!' Albus heard a voice call from down the Gryffindor table, where quite a tall boy, with long brown hair, was standing on his seat, gesturing to the newcomers.

Albus and Arthur got up and walked towards him. He jumped down from the seat and smiled at the first years who had grouped up in front of him.

'I'm Donald Rain, one of Gryffindors Prefects,' his voice was a little high pitched and shaky, Albus gathered it was due to nerves, 'now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to our common room.'

With that, Donald turned, and led them towards the door, fighting their way through the crowd.

Albus felt rather tired and as they reached the marble stairs that shot off from the Entrance Hall, his mind started to wander and wasn't paying attention to where he was going but was brought back to reality when someone pulled on his arm.

'Where are you going?' Arthur said, looking at Albus with a puzzled look. Albus shook his head and looked around and realised that instead of turning right and following his classmates up the stairs, he had gone straight, and was heading for a broom cupboard.

'I - I don't know,' he gave an embarrassed laugh, before setting off with Arthur up the stairs.

'Albus Potter?' Albus stopped and gave a deep sigh.

 _I just want to get to bed_ he thought to himself as he turned around and looked back down the stairs. A boy with a pointed, pale face and sleek blond hair, stood there, looking up at him.

'You're Scorpius Malfoy, aren't you?' Albus said, squinting his eyes, which stung with tiredness.

'I am,' the boy said, making his way up the stairs.

'Right, now that's cleared up, we'll be going to be now,' Arthur joined in, pulling Albus further up the stairs.

'And you are?' Scorpius asked, reaching Albus and Arthur.

'Nobody important.'

Albus gave Arthur a nudge, 'This is Arthur Reed, a good friend of mine.'

'Right. Well, I don't see us having any problems then,' with that Scorpius turned and followed his fellow Slytherins away.

'Why would we have problems with him?' Arthur asked, a puzzled look coming across his face, as he and Albus started making their way up the stairs.

'I have no idea. But, we need to beat him in every test,' Albus said lazily.

'Why?'

'Ron said so.'

'Who's Ron?

'My uncle,' Albus said, while paying an awful lot of attention to his legs, which had started to feel like they were made of led.

'Right.'

Albus suddenly felt a tug on his arm again an almost fell over. He turned around and saw that Arthur had stopped in his tracks.

'Oh no,' Arthur muttered.

'What?'

'We don't know where the common room is,' Arthur was looking at Albus with his eyes wide. They stood looking around them, hoping to see a sign of where they need to go.

'Nick!' Albus yelled suddenly, causing Arthur to jump. Albus was looking down a corridor that shot off of the landing they were on, where the pearly-white figure of Sir Nicholas was.

'Oh, hello, Albus!' Nick said, gliding towards them, 'shouldn't you be in your common room?'

'Well, yes, but we got lost,' Albus said quickly, 'and we were wondering if you could show us there.'

'Of course I can!' Nick beamed down on the boys, 'come on, follow me!' With that nick drifted past them and up the stairs, with Albus and Arthur following him.

Nobody spoke as Nick led them up the stairs and through the corridors, but soon enough, Sir Nicholas suddenly stopped, causing Albus to, yet again, feel as though he was plunged in ice cold water, as he walked through him.

'Right!' Said Nick, 'here we are!' He then turned to Albus and Arthur, bowed, then said 'goodnight, fine gentlemen,' before gliding back down the corridor.

Albus and Arthur looked at each other, before turning to a portrait of a rather large lady, in a pink silk dress.

'Password?' The lady in the portrait said, eyeing the two boys, whose mouths were gaping.

'I - I don't know the password!' Arthur said, panicking.

'No password, no entry.'

'How are we to get in?' Albus asked Arthur.

'I don't -'

'There you are!' Arthur was cut off by a familiar voice. they spun around to see Donald, half walking, half running, towards them, 'I've been looking for you!' He said coming level with them,' where were you?'

'We got separated!' Albus replied quickly.

'Right, well, I should explain that, every so often, we will get a new

password to get into the common room,' he walked up to the portrait.

'Password?' She said again.

'Phoenix Feather!'

The fat lady bowed and the portrait swung open, revealing a hole in the wall, in which, all three of them, clambered through.

Albus found himself standing in a cosy, round room, mainly decorated in red and gold, full of squishy armchairs, with a crackling fire illuminating it.

'Right, now off to bed. Your dormitory is up the stairs, on the right, you'll see it.'

'Alright, thank you,' Albus started, looking back at Donald, 'wait a minute! Are you Quidditch captain too?'

Donald's face quickly became red, but nevertheless, he stuck his chest out with pride, 'yes I am!'

'Can first years try out?' Albus asked quickly, for fear that if he stood there for much longer, he would collapse of exhaustion.

'Well, they can. Though it's not likely they get in,' Donald said, his chest still pushed out, 'where do you play?'

'I - I don't know,' Albus muttered, 'my brother says I'm a good seeker.'

'Well then, no harm in trying out!' With that, Donald gave Albus a pat on the back, before wander up the spiral staircase, closely followed by Albus and Arthur.

When they reached the top of the staircase, Albus looked out one of the windows and gathered that they were in one of the high towers.

They their dormitory and entered. Five four-poster beds hung with deep-red velvet curtains stood around the room. Their trunks had already been brought up.

After finding their trunks, Albus and Arthur pulled on their pyjamas as quietly as they could, so they wouldn't disturb the others, and then crawled into bed.

 _Finally_ Albus thought, as he lay looking up at the canopy of his four-poster, engulfed in warmness. It had indeed been a long day and Albus couldn't wait for tomorrow, when his first year at Hogwarts would really begin.

Although he was excited about the day ahead of him, as soon as Albus closed his eyes, he fell into a dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter Three - The Game Keeper

_**Disclaimer - Harry Potter and all of the character belong to J.K. Rowling.**_

-Chapter Three-

 _ **The Gamekeeper**_

The moment he woke up the next morning, Albus' first year at Hogwarts really did begin.

Hogwarts was a very large castle, filled with many things, which if you didn't know about, would make getting around very difficult indeed.

From wide, sweeping staircases, to narrow rickety; ones that had trick steps that vanished, that you had to remember to jump and ones that led to a completely different place, depending on the day.

Aside from the stairs, there were doors that wouldn't open them unless to touched them in the right place, or tickled them, or asked politely. Doors that weren't really doors, but solid walls that had disguised themselves.

Albus found himself getting lost a lot, on his way to classes. Even after reading all the books he could get his hands on about Hogwarts, him and Arthur still seemed to not know where anything was.

Most of the ghosts didn't help, either, and Albus gathered they found it funny, when a student got lost, or trapped in a trick stair. Sir Nicholas, on the other hand, was always willing to send a Gryffindor in the right direction. Though Peeves was the complete opposite. Peeves was a poltergeist, and he loved playing trick on students and staff. Pulling rugs, out from under your feet, throwing, anything he could get his hands on, at you. Peeves also loved hiding in the suits of armour that littered the castle, and scaring anyone who walked close enough to them.

Something that was even worse than Peeves, was Callum Hall, the caretaker at Hogwarts. A rather old man who found quite a lot of joy in handing out detentions and apparently, Peeves had taken a liking to him, as they often worked together to catch a student doing the wrong thing.

Once they finally got on the right track, it was then, they had push their way through the corridors, with waves of students flooding through them, almost getting trampled several times by the ones who were bigger than them.

Even though, since they were still getting use to the castle, Albus and Arthur were late to a lot of their classes, they found that they weren't behind.

After seeing how much Arthur had studied before coming to Hogwarts, Albus had no worries about confiding in him that he too had studied hard before coming to Hogwarts.

'It was rare I didn't have a book under my nose!' He laughed, 'although, not when I was with my family, I didn't need anything else that James could torment me about. He already made fun of me because I'm smart with all that muggle school work.'

Not that going to class was a waste of time. They still learnt some tips and tricks first hand, learnt things that you couldn't learn from any book and were able to start using spells that they had read about.

Albus' favourite lesson, by far, was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Crane, their teacher for the subject, had a very hands-on approach, and they often found themselves split up into groups, spread about the classroom, practising spells. Professor Crane would usually walked around the classroom, and demonstrate how the spell is to be done and even, if you asked in the right way, would show a spell they wouldn't learn for a couple of years.

Although excelling and already ahead in most of his classes, there was one, in which he took after his father.

Potions.

It wasn't that he didn't like the subject, on the contrary, he loved it, he just couldn't get the hang of mixing the ingredients the right way, and every time the potion was meant to be a glistening, pale blue, his was always dark brown, or a bubbly grey. Their teacher, Professor Long, wasn't much help either. He may have been nice and understanding, telling them it was ok that it wasn't perfect, but it was if he had no clue on how to teach, or, for that matter, brew a potion, as he never gave them tips on how to improve or told them what was wrong with their potion.

Arthur, who was better than Albus at Potions (though only by a little bit) helped him when he could, but most of the time they just sat at the back of the classroom and studied the subject, not paying to much attention to their brew. Rose would sometimes separate herself from her other friends to wander over and help, but was usually too engrossed in her own work.

History of Magic was another subject Albus would rather just read up on. Their teacher, Professor Binns, was the only teacher in Hogwarts, that was a ghost. People say he simply got up from the staff room, after dosing off, to teach his next class, and left his body behind, and Albus had no doubt in his mind, why his body wanted to stay put.

Professor Binns was boring.

Each lesson, he casually floated through the blackboard and floated an inch above the ground, in front of the class. Barely moving and barely moving his lips, as he spoke slowly in a monotone voice, while those in the class, who were still awake, took notes. Several times Albus found himself dozing off, only to be jolted awake by Arthur, who barely seemed awake, nudging him sharply in the ribs

At midnight on Wednesday, Albus, Arthur and Rose headed up to the Astronomy Tower to study the night sky. They looked through telescopes to look at the planets and take notes about them, as Professor Sinatra talked about what they were looking at. Although Albus would rather be in his four-poster bed, sleeping, he couldn't help but to feel mesmerised by what he saw and had to admit, he wouldn't mind doing it more often, if it wasn't for the homework.

The first week seemed to fly by, and before Albus knew it, it was Friday, and as he took a seat in the Great Hall at breakfast, he could see by the look on his peers faces, they were glad it was the end of the week.

'I can't believe we have this much homework!' Albus heard Evan Dallas, a fellow Gryffindor, say, 'we never got this much at my muggle school!' A few of the students around him muttered in agreement, and Albus did to. For their first week at Hogwarts it seemed like they already had an abundance of homework, which they had to get through, and Albus gathered that most of his weekend would be spent in the library.

'Morning,' Albus spun around to see Arthur walking towards him. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he had been hit by the Knight Bus (a magical bus that assisted the stranded witch or wizard).

'Morning,' Albus said, as Arthur sat down beside him, 'you look… _Refreshed_.'

'Ha-ha,' Arthur said, helping himself to some bacon and eggs, 'I lost track of time last night. I was sitting up in bed, reading _Magical Drafts and Potions_ , seeing if there was anything in there to help us get better at Potions.'

'Maybe we should sit closer to Rose, she seems to know what she's doing.'

Arthur shrugged and piled some more food onto his plate, and Albus looked over at Rose, who was in deep conversation with some older Gryffindor's.

'What have we got today?' He asked, turning back to Arthur and putting some sausages and bacon onto his plate.

Arthur ducked under the table to get his timetable from his bag and when he reappeared he was scanning its contents.

'Looks like we have Herbology in Greenhouse One, with Hufflepuff.'

As Arthur put his timetable away, a scrawny, black, barn owl came swooping over the Gryffindor table and landed in front of Albus. It puffed it's chest out and held its leg in the air, towards him. Attached, was a small scroll. After Albus untied the note and payed no attention to the owl, which ruffled its feathers and took off.

'Bit late for mail, isn't it?' Arthur said, staring at the faded yellow parchment.

'It's from Hagrid!' Albus stated as he started to open it up, 'probably just to remind us about this afternoon.'

 _Dear Albus,_

 _Don't you or Rose forget about your visit this afternoon. I want to hear about your first week, and want to make sure James isn't giving you too much of a hard time._

 _From, Hagrid._

The letter was written in a very untidy scroll and Albus had to go over a few times before he was able to decipher the message.

'I thought that's what it would be about,' he looked at Arthur, who was still stuffing his face with food, 'should I write one back?'

Arthur, shrugged and quickly swallowed what was in his mouth, with great difficulty.

'I would say yes, but it seems as if that was a one way letter, as the owl has flown off,' Arthur looked around the hall, to see if the owl had stuck around, 'must have gone back to the owlery.'

'Who's the letter from, Al?' A voice came from down the table. Albus looked up to see Rose, skipping towards him.

'Hagrid,' he said, handing her the letter, to read, 'are you still coming down with us?'

'Oh, yes,' she nodded, 'should we invite James?'

'Not this time,' Albus smiled, 'he probably has more homework than us, that he needs to get started.'

'Well, at least if Herbology goes bad,' Arthur started, 'we have this to look forward too'.

'True,' Rose said with a huge grin, 'though, I think Herbology will be just fine,' she nudged Albus, before turning her attention to the large door at the other end of the hall. And while you two are still eating, I'm going to meet some friends,' and with that, Rose skipped towards the door, where some girls were waiting for her.

'We should probably go too,' Arthur said, and both of them finished what was on their plates and headed outside and met up with Rose, who was walking down the lawn, towards the Greenhouse.

'Hey, Al, and Arthur!' She called cheerily, 'this is Lucy Harper, she's in Hufflepuff,' Rose gestured to a small girl with long, sleek black hair and pale blue eyes. She held out her hand and Albus took it first,

'I'm, Albus Potter and this is, Arthur Reed,' Albus nodded his head towards his friend, 'it's nice to meet you.' He let go of Lucy's hand, who then shook Arthurs.

'I'm really excited for Herbology, I hear the Professor is one of the best in the world!' Lucy did seem to be full of excitement, as she was almost skipping down the lawn, stumbling and tripping every-now-and-then.

'We actually know Neville personally,' chimed Albus, looking quite smug.

'It's Professor Longbottom at school, Mr Potter,' a sudden, but familiar voice came from behind them. It was Professor Longbottom, who strode past the four of them, with a huge grin on his face.

'Sorry, sir!' Albus called out after him, and Rose let out a snort of laughter, 'oh, shut it!' Albus could feel his ears turning pink.

'Do you really know him?' Lucy pressed, looking intently at Albus.

'He's a good friend of our families,' Rose replied, 'he's even taken us out to some incredible places, where we studies some fascinating plants!'

'Fascinating plants?' Albus said, looking at Rose with his eyebrows raised, 'you mean plants that tried to kill us!'

'That was one time!' Rose said defensively, 'and you have to admit, it was a pretty amazing experience.'

'Say's the one who hid behind Neville the whole time!'

'It's Professor Longbottom at school, Mr Potter!' Rose said it a very posh and high pitch voice, causing the three of them to laugh, while Albus looked down at his feet and could feel his ears turning pink, once again.

'Did you go with them?' Lucy asked, turning to Arthur.

'Oh - no. I'm new to the group,' he said, looking at Rose and Albus, with a smile spreading across his face, 'and the bickering.'

Once they reached Greenhouse One, Professor Longbottom, who was waiting for them, ushered them inside and took attendance.

' Alright everyone, listen up!' Neville smiled as the noise in the class died down, almost instantly, ' now, unlike the last class we had together, we will not be doing anything practical today.' The students let out a collective groan, as they slowly pulled out their books, parchment and quills form their bags.

'Today, I want you to read up on the Venomous Tentacular. Now, as I said before, this is not a practical lesson, so we won't be dealing with a living Tentacular. So you don't need to worry about a random vine grabbing you,' Neville smiled at his class, and gestured for them to begin.

'The rest of the lesson went slow, and was quite boring. Nothing eventful happened and Albus' hand was getting sore from all the note taking he was doing. Although, reading about the Venomous Tentacular was quite interesting. Albus found out, that it liked to wait until an unsuspecting victim was near, before it sneakily grabbed them with one of its vines, and he made a side note, not to turn his back on one.

When the bell rang, echoing through the grounds, the class gathered up their things and started to wander up to the castle, but not before Professor Longbottom told them he wanted a report done on the Venomous Tentacular and that it had to be handed into him next lesson.

'At least he only asked us for a foot long report,' Arthur said, trying to brighten the mood, and besides, we get to see Hagrid after lunch.'

A smile crept onto Albus' face, 'I guess a foot long report isn't too bad, unlike the sixteen inch one we need to do for _Potions!_ ' He spat the last word out as if it were poison in his mouth.

Albus, Arthur and Rose quickly downed their lunch and went up to the Gryffindor common room to get a start on their Potions essay.

'Can't we just go down to Hagrids?' Arthur asked as they settled themselves at a small, table in the corner of the common room.

'No, we need to at least get started on this,' Rose replied, pulling out her quill and a piece of parchment, 'I doubt you want to be doing homework all weekend. So it's best we do what we can now.'

The three of them started to work, whispering among themselves and wondering how they were going to fill sixteen inches of parchment with "the best potion to cure boils, it's properties and why it is the best".

'This is mental!' Albus hissed, throwing his quill done, 'I've written all I can, and I haven't even done ten inches yet!'

To his surprise, Rose also put her quill down, 'I think we need a break. We may as well head down to Hagrids now.'

After deciding that would be the best course of action, they packed up their equipment and took it up to their dormitories, before heading out of Gryffindor tower.

They got out of the castle and made their way down the sloped lawns, to Hagrids hut. Albus had never been to, or even seen Hagrids hut before, and was quite surprised when it came into view. It was a small, one room, wooden house, that sat right on the edge of the forbidden forest.

Albus saw a light dancing in the window, as they were walking up to the front door, and assumed that Hagrid was home, and had a fire going. After knocking, they heard some clattering and bustling from inside, before the door swung open.

'Hullo, Albus, Rose!' Hagrid beamed down at them, his half-giant body took up most of the door frame and his head almost touched the top, 'who's yer friend?'

'Hello, Hagrid!' Albus and Rose said together.

'This is Arthur Reed, we met on the train,' Albus pushed Arthur to the front, so Hagrid could see him better.

Hagrid took hold of Arthur's hand and shook it, causing Arthur's whole body to shake.

'Any friend o' these two,' Hagrid nodded towards Albus and Rose, 'is a friend o' mine!' Hagrid let go of Arthur's hand, which fell limply to his side, 'come in, come in!' He added as he moved out of the doorway and gestured them inside, with his dustbin-lid sized hands.

The inside of Hagrids hut was bigger than it looked from the outside. It may not have a been a luxurious manor, but it seemed spacious. Of course for Hagrid, a half-giant, it was a bit snug. The furniture looked as though it had been enlarged from regular furniture, you could almost fit three grown men on the armchair that sat next to the fire. In the corner sat an enormous bed with quite a strange patchwork quilt laying atop it.

'Would yeh like anythin?' Hagrid asked, ushering them to have a seat at a rather large table, 'tea? Rock cakes?'

'Just tea for me, thanks!' Albus replied quickly, he had heard enough stories from his father, about Hagrids rock cakes, and didn't want to experience that first hand.

'I'll have tea, too, thanks,' Arthur said, following Albus' lead.

Hagrid turned to Rose, and raised his eyebrows.

'Oh, nothing me me, thank you,' she said politely, which received a nod from Hagrid, before he turned around and started to bustle around, with pots and mugs and then wandered over to put the kettle over the fire.

'So,' he said, as he sat down at the large table, 'tell us a bit about yerself, Arthur,' Hagrid was beamed down at Arthur.

Arthur looked over at Albus, who gave an encouraging nod, before starting.

'I come from a full wizarding family, although they didn't come to Hogwarts,' his ears had started to turn pink and he looked at the table, but carried on, 'my dad set up a store in Diagon alley, when we moved, just outside of London, and my mums an Auror, but I don't see her much, as she's stationed abroad.'

'An Auror? Your dad must be proud of her,' Hagrid said, trying to stoop down and see his face. Arthur didn't reply but Albus thought he heard him mumble something that sounded like, 'not really'.

Hagrid, quickly changing the subject, decided to ask them how their first week was.

'It was alright,' Albus said, thinking back to the week they had just had, 'we kept getting lost. I didn't realise how big the castle was, and how much stuff tried to trick you!'

Hagrid chuckled slightly, 'yeah, the castle can get tricky sometimes, but if you know all the secret passage ways…' He trailed off.

'How many are there?' Pressed Albus.

'I shouldn't have told you that,' Hagrid mumbled, 'that's not my place. Ask yer parents, they had knack for ge'in 'round the castle.' Hagrid cleared his throat before continuing, "so, how's James going? He hasn' been down here yet. Which is strange, as he spent a lot of time down here las' year.'

'I'm, actually, not sure...' Albus trailed off and looked around at Arthur, who was staring at the table, inspecting the wood, then he turned to Rose who shrugged, 'I've only seen him in the corridors, between classes and when he decides to come down to the common room. We haven't really talked much since we got here,' Albus finished.

Hagrid looked out one of the windows in his hut, apparently in deep thought.

'He's probably just nervous,' Arthur suddenly said, still not looking at the others, 'about trying out for the Quidditch team. He wants to be a beater,' Arthur finally looked up to see Hagrid, Albus and Rose, all staring, dumbfounded, at him.

'How do you know he's trying out for the Quidditch team?' Albus asked slowly, still staring at Arthur with his mouth open slightly.

'He told me this morning. I bumped into him on my way to the Great Hall… I thought you knew,' Arthur was now getting the same, dumbfounded expression, on his face, the others wore.

'No, he hasn't said anything to me. Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise,' Albus said, trying to find an excuse for his brother.

'Maybe 'e didn' want yer to know, 'case 'e didn' make the team,' Hagrid chimed in.

'Maybe,' Albus muttered, rather confused. He looked out the window and up at the castle, where he saw a small dark figure flying towards the hut. As it got closer, Albus realised that it was an owl, and it glided down and landed on the still of the window, and pecked gently on the glass.

'Albus, isn't that yours?' Rose asked, looking at the owl.

'Yeah,' Albus said, getting up and going to the window to open it. The owl quickly swooped into the hut and landed on the table, fluffing his feathers up and puffing his chest out. 'What have you got for me, Randal?' At this, Randal lifted his leg up, to which a note had been tied.

'Randal?' Arthur questioned, 'you named your owl, Randal?'

'Yeah,' Albus replied, untying the note from his owls leg, 'well, actually, James named him. I couldn't think of a name.'

Arthur, shrugged and nodded, then turned his attention to the letter that Randal had just bought in. Albus opened it up and read it:

 _Dear Al,_

 _We hope this find you well, as this is Randal's first delivery. We were_

 _amazed when he showed up here, and decided it would be a good idea to send_

 _him back with a letter._

 _Your mother and I, hope you had a great first week and not getting into any_

 _trouble._

 _James says you are doing great and that he is keeping an eye on you, but honestly_

 _I think it should be the other way around._

Albus laughed before he continued to read.

 _I want you to remember, that if you need anything, don't hesitate to talk to your_

 _brother, and if you need to, send us an owl._

 _We love you and miss you._

 _Love, mum and dad._

 _P.S. Say hi to Hagrid for us._

Albus finished reading the letter with a smile on his face, and handed it to Hagrid, who read it, too.

'Well, at least yeh know James is lookin' out for yeh,' Hagrid said, sliding the letter back over to Albus, 'grea' man, yer father is, grea' man.'

Albus stuffed the letter into his robes and gave Randal and thankful-scratch, who nibble his hand in an affectionate sort of way and gave a slight hoot, before taking off and flying back out the open window.

Albus looked after Randal, and watched him fly out of sight, then, quite suddenly, he turned to Arthur.

'Randal actually reminded me, what animal did you bring? I didn't see one on the train with you.'

Arthur's face turned red and he looked back down at the table again.

'I - I didn't get one,' he said quickly, almost running his words together, 'something came up, and we didn't have time.'

Albus looked at Arthur. He knew this wasn't the truth, but knew better than to push the matter. He glanced over at Hagrid, who was looking at the crackling fire, and seemed to be in deep thought.

'I 'ave somethin' for yeh,' Hagrid said, coming out of his trance, 'it's - er - no' with me righ' now, an' it's gettin' late, but if yeh come back tomorrow, I can give it ter yeh then.'

Albus looked at Hagrid, who was not looking at him, but at Arthur, who hadn't noticed he was being spoken to, as he was still looking at the table. Albus gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs, and he sat up straight and looked at Hagrid.

'Me?' Arthur asked, looking quite taken aback, 'Yeah, I - I can come back tomorrow,' he finished slowly.

'I'll make sure he remembers,' Albus assured Hagrid, 'although we have to do some homework first,' he quickly added, having caught Roses eye.

'Yes, we do, I can't believe we already have this much,' Rose said.

Hagrid smiled at the three of them and they finished their tea in silence, before Hagrid told them they should be heading back up to the castle, as it would be getting dark soon.

'See you, Hagrid!' Albus called as they stepped out of the front door, and into the cool evening breeze.

'Bye!' Rose and Arthur added, as they waved at the half-giant, who was

watching them walk up the lawns, towards the castle.

Silently, the three of the marched up the grounds and Albus wondered what Hagrid planned to give his friend, and he hoped it wasn't anything dangerous. His father had told him about the creatures Hagrid seemed to always wind up with, and really didn't want something of that nature, prowling around the dormitory.

But there was something else, ebbing away in the back of his mind. Why did Arthur not seem to thrilled to talk about his family? Albus knew better than to bombard Arthur with questions, and that he would tell him on his own time, but nether the less, it was a thought that stayed in the back of his mind.


	4. Chapter Four - Deep in the Forest

_**Disclaimer - Harry Potter and all of the character belong to J.K. Rowling.**_

-Chapter Four-

 _ **Deep in the Forest**_

Saturday morning came, and Albus found himself being jerked awake by a loud clap of thunder. A storm had settled in over night and it didn't look like it was going anywhere, anytime soon.

After Albus, tossed and turned and couldn't get back to sleep, he thought it best to just get up. He got dressed and wandered down to the common room, where the rain slapped against the window pane more loudly and the flashes of lightning illuminated what the roaring fire did not.

Albus sat down in front of the fire, he was able to get one of the good chairs, as it seemed he was the only one to be awake, although he found it hard to believe everyone had been able to sleep the raging storm. He then took out a book that his brother James had given him for his eleventh birthday.

' _Quidditch Through the Ages_ _by Kennilworthy Whisp_ ,' Albus murmured to himself, as he read the cover of the book. Although Albus didn't go for any team in the Quidditch World Cup, he loved the sport, and loved the feeling of the wind rushing past his body and through his hair, as he rose higher off the ground. He didn't have a broom of his own, his father had bought James a Nimbus two thousand and one, for his twelfth birthday, and James, occasionally, if he was in a good mood, let Albus fly it. It may be a little out-dated, but it still holds up against the brooms that are out today, and what an amazing feeling it is flying it.

Albus opened the book and began reading. It wasn't the first time he had read the book, he must have read it five or six times by now, but he still loved to re-read it and jog his memory. Though, by now, he had memorised most of it anyway, and he found himself skipping a lot of the pages as he could recite them, word-for-word.

Sighing slightly as he read the final page, he put the book down and walked over to look out the window. The rain hadn't backed off at all; it even seemed to be getting stronger. From what Albus could see, the ground was no longer lush and green, but dirty and muddy, with water flowing down the lawn, like a river. He could barely see Hagrids hut through the thick rain, and wondered if Hagrid would still want him and Arthur to go down there.

This brought up another question that had been playing on Albus' mind. What was Hagrid going to give Arthur, a boy whom he had only met the day before?

 _Maybe he felt sorry for him,_ Al thought to himself, _maybe Hagrid, too, noticed something was wrong,_ Albus shook his head. He didn't want to think about that, it wasn't his business what happens in Arthur personal life, and if Arthur wanted to tell him something, he would.

Albus heard movement from upstairs in the dormitories. Everyone else must of started to wake up. He walked over and sat back down in the chair next to the fire, picking back up, _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and decided to look at the pictures, while he waited for his friends.

Soon, in small groups, the rest of the Gryffindor's started making their way down the spiral staircase, some of them jumping as a loud clap of thunder struck outside. Albus, seeing Rose and Arthur, got up and greeted them.

'Good morning!' Albus smiled at his friends.

'Good?' Questioned Arthur, as he looked out the window and watched the rain pelt against it, 'we have very different opinions on what "good" is.'

Rose grinned at the two boys before turning and waving at some other Gryffindor's that had been waiting by the portrait hole.

'I told them that I would be hanging out with you this weekend,' she said, looking from Albus' face to Arthurs.

'Brilliant!' Albus' face lit up, 'you can help us with the Potions essay!'

Smiling, and forgetting about the gloomy weather, the three of them walked through the portrait hole and made their way down to the Great Hall.

'Ooooooooh! Ickle firsties!' Albus, Rose and Arthur had just wandered into a corridor that would have been empty, if it wasn't for Peeves the Poltergeist.

'Go away Peeves!' Albus demanded, while trying to dodge the chalk that Peeves was throwing.

'Ooooh, that's not very nice, Ickles!' Peeve's did a quick backflip in mid-air before vanishing. Albus gestured the others to move and they started running towards the door at the other end of the corridor, but before they could reach it, the large rug that lined the floor, was pulled out from under their feet.

Peeves howled with laughter as Albus, Rose and Arthur, lay sprawled on the floor.

'Don't you have anywhere else to be, Peeves!' Arthur said, getting to his feet, 'I hear that some second years are playing with some dungbombs on the seventh floor.'

Peeve's face lit-up and he did a sort of pirouette in mid-air, 'Oooooh, this should be fun!' He sang as he swept out of the corridor.

'How do you know there are second years with dungbombs on the seventh floor?' Rose asked as they continued down the corridor.

'I don't, but I knew Peeves couldn't resist getting his hands on dungbombs,' Arthur replied, smiling at the others.

'Good thinking, make sure to keep that up when we do these essays,' said Albus, causing them to think about all the homework that had to be done.

Finally, they reached the Great Hall. It was filled with student who obviously couldn't sleep through the storm any longer, all of them piling food, rather gloomily, onto their plates. Lightning flashed through the clouds that floated above the tables, and for the first time since he had arrived at Hogwarts, Albus wished that he could see the ceiling instead.

The three friends had just started eating when Albus', brown barn owl, Randal, came swooping down and landed in front of him. Randal was soaking wet and shivering, fluffing his feathers up to try and get warm.

'Randal! What are you doing!' Albus quickly scooped the owl up and put him on his lap, where Randal, immediately, snuggled close, to warm up, 'you should be in the owlery!'

'It looks like he's got a letter,' Arthur pointed to the owl's leg, where a small bit of parchment, which was dripping wet, could just be seen.

Albus untied the letter from his owl, who let out a soft hoot, before flying up to perch next to a flaming torch.

Albus, unrolled the letter, and read aloud:

 _Sorry for sending Randal, Al,_

 _I was going to come up to the castle to see you myself, but something_

 _came up. Then Randal showed up and I decided to send you this. I still wish to_

 _give Arthur that thing I told you about yesterday. It's not the best weather, but if_

 _you could come down in the afternoon, that would be fantastic._

 _From, Hagrid._

'He still wants us to go down there? In this weather?' Arthur said with a shocked look on his face, 'I'd be surprised if we don't get blown away!'

'I'd be surprised if we don't drown,' Rose said, dropping her bacon back onto her plate and looking over at Arthur, 'what do you think he's going to give you?'

'I have no idea,' Arthur replied, not willing to even take a guess, 'hopefully nothing too big, my trunks already pretty full.'

'Only because you brought a whole library with you,' Albus joked, grinning at Arthur.

'You can't talk,' Arthur shot back, 'I'm surprised you could fit anything else in your trunk, what with all the books,' the grin faded from Albus' face and he opened his mouth to make a retort, but was cut off by Rose.

'When you two have stopped coming up with clever comebacks, and decided who the biggest nerd is, I think, we should start that potions essay.'

Arthur looked at Albus, who shrugged, before turning to Rose, 'fine, we'll stop. Anyway, it's looks like you've taken the mantle of Chief Nerd.'

Laughing, the three of the finished breakfast and got up, making their way back to the common room to retrieve their bags, before heading off to the library.

With each step they took, the smiles on their faces faded a little more, as the dread of writing the essay started to take over.

'I can't believe we are spending our first weekend here, in the library!' Scoffed Albus.

'It could be worse,' Arthur said, 'we could be in the hospital wing.' Albus snorted and tried to stifle a laugh, but quickly fell silent when Rose gave them both a piercing look.

'That is nothing to joke about, what if one of us _had_ ended up in the hospital wing!'

The two boys looked at each other, then started to get their equipment out of their bags and while Albus had his head under the table, he muttered 'alright, Aunt Hermione,' under his breath, so neither of them would hear him.

'Right,' Rose said, putting her potions book on the table, 'let's get started.'

Albus and Arthur nodded in agreement and the three of them got to work, flicking through their books and writing down as much as they could.

Albus wasn't sure how long they had been working on their essays, but it seemed like hours. People came and went, some fellow first years and even the occasional second or third year, came over to help them out and in return ask for some assistance. Albus' hand had just started to ache, when all of a sudden; Arthur slammed his book shut, which was immediately followed by Madam Pince (the Hogwarts librarian) telling him to be quite.

'Sorry!' He whispered, before turning back to his two friends, who had confused looks on their faces, 'I'm done,' he declared.

'Really?' Questioned Rose, unsure that Arthur had done it properly.

'You have such little faith in me,' Arthur replied shaking his head and tutting.

Rose rolled her eyes, 'well, have you finished?'

'Yes,' Arthur said and stopped shaking his head, 'well, I have for today. My hand hurts,' he put on a fake sad face at looked at Rose.

'Oh, boo-hoo,' Rose grinned, 'I think I've had enough too.'

'Thank god!' Said Albus, closing his book, 'I think I've fried my brain!' He packed all of his equipment away and looked out the one of the libraries windows, 'I think we missed lunch.'

The other two, looked out the window and saw that the rain had backed off, and was now just a slow drizzle, they could also see a small, shining orb, resting behind a grey cloud that sat right over the mountains. It was definitely past lunch.

Arthur moaned, 'I'm hungry!'

'Stop complaining, I'm sure Hagrid will have some food you can enjoy,' Rose said as she stood up and started packing away her things.

'I doubt it,' Albus said, picking his bag up and swinging it over his shoulder.

'Right, let's go to Hagrids -'

'Albus Potter?' Arthur was cut off by a voice that had come from the door of the library. All three of the looked up to see who had spoken, and they saw a pale boy with slick blond hair and a pointed face.

'Can I speak with you?' Scorpius Malfoy asked, walking towards the group, 'please.'

Albus nodded, then turned to Arthur and Rose, 'I'll meet you down there,' Rose opened her mouth to protest, but Albus gave her a reassuring look, and her and Arthur made their way out of the library.

Albus sat back down and place his bag back on the floor.

'Thank you,' Scorpius said taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, 'how's your potions essay coming along?'

Albus looked at Scorpius, he knew that he didn't want to talk about homework, but being polite he replied, 'I should finish it tomorrow.'

'I've already finished it,' said Scorpius, though he wasn't being pompous, he actually remained quite expressionless and his voice remained as it had been the night they first met, 'I can help you with yours, if you want.'

Albus stayed silent. He was quite shocked, Scorpius Malfoy, a Slytherin, the son of a man whom, he had heard, cause a lot of trouble for his father, offering a helping hand. Scorpius seemed to read Albus' mind.

'Look, my father told me what he did when he came to this school. He told me about your father, Harry Potter, and how they...' Scorpius trailed off and looked out the window, apparently not sure how to explain their father's relationship while at school.

'Didn't get along,' Albus finished the sentence simply, still looking straight at Scorpius.

'Yeah,' Scorpius said, turning his attention back to Albus, 'I don't want to be like that,' he stood up, 'so, if you ever need a hand...' he turned and started to walk away.

'Wait,' Said Albus before he could stop himself, causing Scorpius to come to a halt and turn around, 'I - I'm dead awful at potions,' Albus stared at Scorpius, he had no idea how to finish that sentence and wasn't completely sure if he wanted to.

Scorpius smiled then nodded, 'all right then. I'll see you in potions,' and with that, he turned on his heel and walked from the library, leaving Albus staring at thin air, wondering, what just happened.

Pushing what just happened, to the back of his mind, Albus walked briskly out of the library and rushed back up to the common room to dispose of his bag, before running back through the castle and out into the grounds.

He made his way down the lawn, slipping and sliding, trying not to fall in the steady stream of water that coated the ground. Rain was still falling, though much more lightly, still Albus decided to pull his cloak over his head. He looked around and felt a little uneasy, being all alone in the grounds, it felt as if he wasn't supposed to be here.

Finally he reached the small hut on the outskirts of the forest, and saw a light, dancing in the window, and the silhouettes of Hagrid, Rose and Arthur.

Knocking on the large wooden door, he heard movement from inside, then the door swung open and the warmth radiating from the fire, spilled onto him. Hagrid stood in the doorway, beaming down at him, with his small, beetle-black eyes, then he gestured Albus inside.

'Hey, Al,' said Rose, who was sitting at the large table, next to Arthur, both were grasping rather large mugs of tea. Albus nodded at them and joined the table

'Tea?' Hagrid asked, closing the door.

'Yes, please.'

Hagrid got to work with mugs and jugs, while Albus looked at his two friends. Rose wasn't paying him any attention, but instead was looking at Arthur, whose face was beaming. As Albus turned to face him, he heard a faint 'hoot' and saw that in Arthur's lap, was a small, snow white owl, that was nestling up to Arthur, to keep warm. Arthur caught Albus' eye.

'Isn't she great!' He exclaimed, 'Hagrid said he found her in the forest, hurt and lost, so he nursed her back to health.'

'Yeah,' Hagrid said as he put a mug of tea in front of Albus, 'I as gonna, give it ter the school ter use, but though' yeh migh' like 'im.'

Arthur beamed at Hagrid, before turning his attention back to his new owl.

'You got a name for him yet?' Arthur asked, taking a sip from his tea.

'Not yet,' replied Arthur, still not taking his eyes off his owl, 'I've never been very good at naming things,' he gave a stiff kind laugh before falling silent.

The all sat in silence, drinking their tea and listening to the soft patter of the rain, falling on the wooden roof. Then Albus broke the silence.

'Why did you want us to come down in this weather?' He said before he could stop himself.

'Oh - er - no reason,' Hagrid said, looking down at his enormous feet, while the three students look at each other with their eyebrows raised.

'Hagrid?' Albus asked cautiously.

'Fine,' Hagrid gave in, 'I wan'ed ter show yeh some'in,' he looked at them and started to play with his large fingers.

'Well, you can show us, Hagrid,' Arthur said, still stroking his owl.

'it's - er - no' in 'ere, it's in the fores,' Hagrid looked out the window to avert his eyes from Rose, Albus and Arthur, who were all staring at him with their eyes wide.

'The forest?' Albus asked, 'we aren't allowed in the forest.'

'You'll be with me, it'll be fine,' replied Hagrid, still looking out the window, as the rain drops glided down the pane.

'But, isn't it dangerous?' Asked Arthur, trying to keep his voice steady, 'Aren't there dangerous beasts in there?'

'Yeh'll be righ' if yeh with me,' Hagrid shuffled his feet, before turning back to the three students, 'so how's yer homework goin'?' He said, trying to change the subject.

'Fine, we'll get through it,' Rose quickly said, 'is that why you wanted us to come down, even though it was raining?'

'Yeah,' Hagrid said quietly, 'less people can us.'

Rose, Albus and Arthur looked at each other again, having a silent discussion, not sure on what to do. Hagrid beetle-like eyes were glancing to each of them, for seconds at a time.

'Yeh don' 'ave ter if yeh don' want ter,' Hagrid said quickly.

'No it's OK,' the worked left Albus' mouth before he could stop them and he quickly turned to look out the window, but could feel the shocked eyes of his friends, burning the back of his neck.

'Grea'!' Hagrid walked over to the door and swung it open, 'C'mon then, we bes' be off.'

Albus got up first and walked over to the door, he could still feel the other two's eyes glaring at him, as he walked out of the cabin and into the cold afternoon air. Rain softly fell on his face as he looked up at the grey clouds, some of which were starting to turn very dark again.

'Right, c'mon, follow me,' Hagrid closed the door behind him and started off towards the forest, Albus Rose and Arthur followed him.

'I can't believe we are going in there!' Arthur exclaimed as they reached the trees.

'As is said, yeh'll be righ' with me,' Hagrid said as he leant down and picked up a wooden crossbow, that had been resting on a large boulder, then continued walked towards the forest.

Albus' heart skipped a beat when he took his first step into the forest, and he started to wonder why Hagrid needed the crossbow if everything was going to be OK.

The tree's of the forest were thick and the bushes and shrubs that sat on the ground were dense. Larges roots stuck out from the earth and leaves littered the path they were walking . Albus couldn't feel the rain anymore and could see no sign that any rain had reached the ground. He looked up and saw the branches from the tall tree's intertwined with each other and spreading overhead like a canopy.

They had been walking for only a couple of minutes, but to Albus, it felt closer to an hour, and it looked like it too. The further they walked, the darker it got. The tree's got thicker and the path they walked got thinner, causing them to walk in single formation.

At one point Hagrid stopped before turning around and telling, Albus Arthur and Rose, to use their wands as a light.

'We're lucky we already learnt this spell,' Rose said, before all of them muttered ' _Lumos_ ' causing the tips of their wands to cast a bright light around them.

On they walked through the forest which grew denser and denser. Soon Hagrid stops and look around him, raising his crossbow, before murmuring to himself and stepping off the path and continuing further into the forest. Rose, Albus and Arthur, reluctantly followed.

'I swear, if Hagrid wasn't a friend of your families,' Arthur whispered, and looked around him shuddering, 'I would think he was going to kill us! I mean, look around, no one would find us out here.'

Albus stifled a laugh, but didn't reply. He had a very strange feeling, but he couldn't pick what it was. After everything he had heard about Hagrid, he would never have thought he would lead students into the forest blindly, not telling them where he was going. Then Albus remember his father telling him about Grawp, and he laughed to himself before his stomach dropped.

 _I hope he hasn't got another giant_ He thought, as he looked at the back of Hagrids head, his shaggy black hair tangled together with leaves and twigs sticking out of it.

A couple times they stopped and Hagrid would lift his crossbow up and scan around them, waiting, but when nothing happened, he would lower it again and continue walking, stepping over large roots, ducking under low hanging branches and untangling their robes from sharp sticks.

Suddenly, Albus heard a sound. Not the running of water or the rustling of leaves, but the sound of hooves slamming against the hard ground, and it wasn't just a set of hooves, it was many, as if a whole herd of wild horses had decided to come running through the forest.

Hagrid stopped dead and raised his crossbow, before gesturing Albus, Rose and Arthur to get behind a bush that sat to their left.

The hooves got louder and louder and soon they sound stopped completely and all Albus could hear was the heavy breathing of his friends, and whatever stood around them.

'Hagrid!' The deep voice rang around the forest. It wasn't a grateful tone, but more of surprise and a hint of anger, 'why are you here?'

'Jus' lookin' around,' Hagrid replied.

Albus stayed still. He wanted to look around the bush and see what was happening, but at the same time, he didn't want to take the risk of being seen, so he decided to look around at Rose and Arthur, whom had their eyes shut tight, listening.

'We have told you many times, Hagrid,' said a different, higher voice that was full of concern, 'you are not well, and are not aloud this deep in the forest. A great danger lay in here.'

A murmur ran through the creatures, though Albus couldn't make out what they were saying, and he heard their hooves stamp on the ground.

'Yeh 'ave no righ' ter tell me how far I can go inter the fores!' Hagrid growled.

'We fear for your safety, Hagrid,' said the same deep voice as before, it was calm and soothing now, 'as well as the safety of _our_ world.'

'You have never ventured this far before, Hagrid,' another voice said, almost matching the first, 'not even for your… Brother.'

'I need ter get further!' Demanded Hagrid.

'Deep in the forest has seen dark magic, Hagrid,' said the higher voiced creature, who seemed to have come closer, 'I think, it's time for you to leave.'

Albus could hear the sound of leaves crunching and twigs snapping, and Hagrid ambled into sight, still looking ahead of him.

'Fine! I'll leave the rudy forest!' Though he instead of continuing to walk backwards, he stopped and looked towards the sky.

'The stars are, already, so bright tonight,' the deep voiced creature said, 'we have read them, Hagrid, several times over the years, since the war. Be on guard my friend.'

Everything went silent. Hagrid had turned his back on the creatures and stayed still, it barely looked as though he was breathing. After a minute or two, Albus heard some scuffling coming from behind Hagrid, then the sound of hooves filled his ears. The sound grew fainter and fainter, until his ears were filled with silence, once again.

'Righ', c'mon,' said Hagrid roughly, before walking away. Albus, Rose, and Arthur scrambled to their feet and followed him, back through the thick bushes and trees.

The trip back through the forest seemed a lot quicker than before. They got back to the original path in no time and soon found the trees and vegetationthinning out. No one spoke all through the journey back out the forest and Albus' ears were filled with an eerie silence.

Soon, the edge of the forest came into view and once they reached it, they were met with slow falling rain, which fell onto their faces. The grounds were now very dark, as the sun had set. Patches of stars could be seen through the breaks in the clouds and as the creature in the forest had said, they were indeed bright.

'Righ', now, off yeh go, ter the castle, before yeh get in trouble,' mumbled Hagrid and he strode over to his cabin and went inside, only to reappear second later with Arthur small, white owl.

'Thanks Hagrid!' Arthur called, but Hagrid didn't respond and walked back inside his hut.

The three of them stood their for a minute, before realising that they need to get back up to the castle, muttering ' _nox'_ so the tips of their wands went out, they stowed the thin pieces of wood into their robes and made their way up the wet, slippery lawn.

Albus knew, the next day, he would have to put what happened into a letter and send it to his father.

 _He would want to know_ He thought, as he, Arthur and Rose walked towards the castle.


End file.
